The High School Reunion Vortex
by marcelb
Summary: Leonard's at his high school reunion, making sure to stay away from the crowd. He shouldn't have gone, hadn't even wanted to go, but Penny had insisted he'd go. But did she go with him, the only way that would've made the evening bearable? No, she couldn't miss any more work.


**So, this story idea originated from a section of chapter 10 in my story The Separation Effect, though this story is completely separate from, and not even in canon with, ****The Separation Effect**. Don't own a damn thing, don't make money.

* * *

Leonard stood near the wall of the large hall that was currently hosting his high school reunion, wondering once again why he had let Penny talk him into going. He had hated high school, hated being the target of most, if not all, the bullying that took place during those years.

Penny hadn't even been able to accompany him, as she couldn't afford to miss any more work days. So, here he was, all by himself, most of his classmates ignoring him, or, once they realized who he was, ask him if he remembered all the 'fun' things they'd done to him.

He hated being here, but didn't want to be the first one to leave, less than an hour into the reunion. Instead, he tried to be as invisible as possible, hoping the night would be over quickly and without too many insults or remembered acts of bullying.

He noticed some of the late arrivals had seen him and were now coming his way. 'Great,' he thought, 'more insults.' He tried to steel himself against what was going to come.

"Hey, if it isn't Leaky Hofstadter," one of the guys started.

Leonard put on a fake smile, as if he didn't mind the reference to his middle name. He tuned out the insults and the retelling of the things they had done to him. He just wanted to get out of there, but knew he'd be laughed at if he did. Instead, he remained in his spot, throwing out fake smiles whenever the others laughed, wishing it would be over soon.

"So, no girlfriend, huh? No surprise, really. Who would want to be with you?"

Leonard wanted to respond, tell them that he had a girlfriend, and a beautiful one at that. But they wouldn't believe him, so he didn't bother.

"Hey, baby. I was wondering where you were."

Leonard looked past the guy in front of him, surprised to hear Penny's voice. His jaw almost dropped to the floor as he took in her appearance. He'd never seen her hair done quite the way it was now, and the red dress she wore, showing off her shoulders, arms and legs was stunning. Most importantly, she was wearing a push-up bra again, showing off her cleavage. She walked over to him and he kissed her passionately. "Hi," he said.

"So, who are your friends," Penny asked.

Leonard turned back to his tormentors, having momentarily forgotten they were even standing there. He introduced them, making sure they all knew Penny was his girlfriend.

* * *

Penny walked into the large hall, her eyes immediately scanning the walls, in search of Leonard. She instinctively expected him to be near one of the walls, knowing he didn't want to be seen. She probably should've just gone with him, but wanted to surprise him and had pretended she couldn't miss any more work days.

She spotted him at the wall that seemed to be almost in the dark, well out of the way of the main area. She saw fear in his eyes and she followed his line of sight to see four men walking toward him. Penny immediately walked over to where Leonard was standing, but didn't arrive until after the four men had.

From her spot she couldn't see Leonard, which meant he couldn't see her. Neither could the four men, and Penny decided to listen in first. It hurt her to hear all the things they were talking about, hurt her to know this had been his life every day during high school. When one of the men teased him about not having a girlfriend, she decided that was her cue to let her presence be known. "Hey, baby. I was wondering where you were."

She winked at him when he moved to look past the guy directly in between him and her, suppressing a smile as she noticed how he reacted to her. She walked past the guy and kissed Leonard.

"So, who are your friends," she asked, moving to stand in a way that would show off her figure best. Unsurprisingly, none of the men believed Leonard as he introduced her as his girlfriend. As they asked how they had met she answered, "Oh, Leonard and I met almost seven years ago, when I moved into the apartment across from him."

* * *

His tormentors finally rejoined the main party and Penny turned to stand in front of him, pressing herself tightly against him to kiss him once again. "Not that I'm complaining," Leonard said when they broke apart, "but I thought you wouldn't be able to miss work?"

She smiled back at him. "I wanted to surprise you, though I didn't intent to be this late." She hugged him tightly. "Oh Leonard, I heard all the things they did to you. I'm so sorry you had to endure things like that on a daily basis."

"Now you know why I didn't want to go," Leonard said. "But now that you're here, especially the way you look tonight, I suddenly want to be here." He frowned, thinking that sounded childish. "Is that bad?"

"Of course not, Sweetie. I dressed up like this for you to show off to all those bullies. So, how about we go get ourselves a drink and just mingle?"

For a brief second he looked fearfully around the hall, before nodding with a smile. "Sure." They walked toward the bar, Penny's arm linked with his. With Penny beside him, he felt he could face his tormentors without fear. It wouldn't make the bad memories go away, but at least he could show them he was now an accomplished physicist with gorgeous woman as his girlfriend. Some of the guys that bullied him would definitely be jealous of him, and the best part was that Penny was offering to be his trophy girl for the evening, even though he didn't really view her as a trophy. Yes, he was definitely looking forward to making his former tormentors insanely jealous.


End file.
